Timeline

Jan Jacob Spohler was born in Nederhorst de Berg, Holland in 1811. He studied at the Amsterdam Academy under Jan Willem Pieneman. Spohler traveled for many years in his native country, working in Amsterdam, Haarlem, The Hague, Leiden, Rotterdam and finally settling back in Amsterdam until his death in 1866. He was a prolific exhibitor in Amsterdam and was made a member of the Academy there in 1845.

Spohler followed in the footsteps of the great artist Andreas Schelfhout. Like Schelfhout, he devoted his life to the portrayal of the Dutch landscape, falling under the spell of the Romantic Movement in Holland. His views of landscapes or cityscapes are equally evoking a romantic mood, capturing an atmosphere of nature in its truest form. By including small groups of people in his images, he gives us a delightful description of daily life of that time.

The work of Jan Jacob Spohler is represented today by the Teyler Museum, Haarlem and the Stedelijk Museum, Broederpoort and Kampen.

His two sons, Jacob Jan Spohler (1837 - 1923) and Johannes Franciscus Spohler (1853 - 1894) both were his pupils and became successful artists in their own right.